Most networks currently run on hardware-based routers from vendors like Cisco, Foundry, and Juniper.

Computing power has advanced to the point where this is not necessary. General purpose computing platforms can replace these expensive dedicated hardware routers. These software routing platforms usually run on some version of free or inexpensive Unix.

These are a few of the competing open source routing software packages.

The goal of the XORP project is to develop an open source software router platform that is stable and fully featured enough for production use, and flexible and extensible enough to enable network research. Currently XORP implements routing protocols for IPv4 and IPv6 and a unified means to configure them.

XORP is free. It is covered by a BSD-style license and is publicly available for research, development, and use.

Command-line interface (using the `birdc' client; to get some help, just press `?')

Soft reconfiguration — no online commands for changing the configuration in very limited ways, just edit the configuration file and issue a `configure' command or send SIGHUP and BIRD will start using the new configuration, possibly restarting protocols affected by the configuration changes

OpenBGPD is a FREE implementation of the Border Gateway Protocol, Version 4. It allows ordinary machines to be used as routers exchanging routes with other systems speaking the BGP protocol.

Started out of dissatisfaction with other implementations, OpenBGPD nowadays is a fairly complete BGP implementation, powering many sites. Users often praise its ease of use and high performance, as well as its reliability.

OpenBGPD's companion, OpenOSPFD, adds support for the OSPF protocol suite.